Last night more than 75 people gathered for the second of three events in WEA’s Fall Speaker Series Coming Up from the Roots. It was dry and warm inside during the Bay Area’s first storm of the season. And the room was full of environmental leaders, fellow tenants of the David Brower Center, social justice activists, WEA Giving Circle members, friends, family and one 2 year old.

Vien Truong of Green For All: Vien spoke about the critical need for working across sectors to create green jobs. She invited people to get involved, and you can learn more about her critical work forging a nationwide green jobs coalition here.

Wahleah Johns of the Black Mesa Water Coalition and WEA’s International Advisory Board: Her stories about passing legislation in the Navajo Nation for green jobs were inspiring! The focus, determination, creativity and sheer person-power to make that happen is humbling. You can read about it here.

Nina Simons of Bioneers. Nina talked about the power of women and what it means to be a woman leader. And that it’s Bioneers’ 20th year of convening social and environmental change leaders… Click here for more information about this year’s conference this weekend.

Adrienne Maree Brown of the Ruckus Society. She sang us a song that could be felt in our bones. It was a beautiful and peaceful way to end an evening.

Our next event in this series, the final one of the season, will be held Tuesday, November 10 at 7pm. This will be a very special evening with Joanna Macy, a long time supporter of WEA and a member of our International Advisory Board. RSVP here.

Learn about WEA’s newest initiative– the Women and Agriculture Initiative, which will work to equip Indian women farmers with training, business skills, networking support and seed funding to launch sustainable agricultural micro-businesses across India.

“As indigenous people we’re still fighting for protection, for cultural survival, fighting to protect our sacred and holy places. Although it has always been in the interest of the government to annihilate or assimilate indigenous peoples, we’re still here, and we’re not going anywhere. And we’re continuing to share our traditional ways and traditional knowledge with our young people because it’s important for us to survive, for our cultures to survive, for our futures to survive.

We are all indigenous, no matter where we’re from or what our heritage is, whether we’re from Asia, Africa, South America, North America — it is a matter of recognizing that root and recognizing our ancestry.

The basis of all indigenous cultures is respect and harmony, and living within your environment in a harmonious way, and one that is respectful and understanding that the earth is our Mother and she takes care of us and nurtures us. Everything we need to be a healthy people is here, is provided for us by our Mother Earth. It’s just a matter of recognizing and remembering who we are.

It’s an exciting time to be doing what we’re doing here at Women’s Earth Alliance. Economists, world leaders, and policy experts alike are beginning to recognize the central role of women to community health and economic stability. A recent New York Times article said:

“Only a small proportion of aid specifically targets
women or girls, but increasingly donors are recognizing
that that is where they often get the most bang for the buck.”

President Obama appointed a new White House Council on Women and Girls, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a recent interview “women and girls” are a “signature issue” of the administration’s foreign policy. During her tour this month through Africa, Clinton stated,

“Until women around the world are accorded their rights
and afforded the opportunities of education, health care and gainful employment,
global progress and prosperity will have its own glass ceiling.”

Check out these articles:

Clinton Global Initiative – at their Annual Meeting last week they added a new focus area for Women and Girls. Read more here.

New York Times Magazine – they dedicated a whole issue to what they called ‘The Women’s Crusade’ which can be read here.

Half the Sky – written by two Pultizer Prize winning journalists, and an anchor article in the NYTimes Magazine issue above, this book is a call-to-action to invest in and support women and girls

“… I have presented these arguments for a purpose. To illustrate that that these are very common issues for women, not only for Indigenous women, but for all women. What befalls our mother Earth, befalls her daughter — the women who are the mothers of our nations. Simply stated, if we can no longer nurse our children, if we can no longer bear children, and if our bodies, themselves are wracked with poisons, we will have accomplished little in the way of determining our destiny, or improving our conditions.

And, these problems, reflected in our health and well being, are also inherently resulting in a decline of the status of women, and are the result of a long set of historical processes. Processes, which we as women, will need to challenge if we will ultimately be in charge of our own destinies, our own self-determination, and the future of our Earth our Mother.”

—Winona LaDuke. Co-Chair Indigenous Womens Network, Program Director of the Environmental Program at the Seventh Generation Fund, at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, August 31 1995.

[This is the first of many quotations from allies and visionaries that we plan to share from time to time. The words we share inform and inspire our work. If you come across something that should be included here, please let us know.]